West Papua Report
October 2011
This is the 90th in a
series of monthly reports that focus on developments
affecting Papuans. This series is produced by the
non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing
on media accounts, other NGO assessments, and
analysis and reporting from sources within West
Papua. This report is co-published with the East
Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN).
Back issues are posted online at
http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm
Questions regarding this report can be addressed to
Edmund McWilliams at
edmcw@msn.com. If you wish to receive the report
via e-mail, send a note to
etan@etan.org.
Summary:
Papuans will convene a third "National Congress," an
historic convocation that follows congresses in 1961
and 2000. Military and police forces have attacked
civilian homes, purportedly in pursuit of those
responsible for an August incident that may have
been staged. In the wake of growing violence,
leading human rights organizations have called on
the Indonesian government to "re-assess" its resort
to military measures to address dissent in West
Papua. The giant mining firm Freeport McMoran is
facing growing pressure from labor and the
government. The attention focused on Freeport has
once more brought to light the enormous profits and
tax revenues flowing from the mining operation.
These riches stand in stark contrast to the grinding
poverty endured by Papuans whose resources Freeport
is exploiting. The UN Secretary General has publicly
retreated from comments in which he appeared to
recognize the need for the UN Decolonization
Committee and the Human Rights Council to take up
the denial of Papuan rights to self-determination
and other violations of human rights.
Contents:
Papuans To Convene Third National Congress in
October
The Papuan National Collective, comprising
leaders of the Dewan Adat Papua (the Papuan
Customary Council), and leaders of Papuan religious,
human rights, women, and youth organizations have
announced the convening of the "Third Papuan
Congress," in Jayapura, October 16-19, 2011. Members
of the Provincial Papuan Assembly (DPRD) will also
participate in the congress.
According to the Collective leaders, the theme of
the congress is "Affirming the basic rights of the
indigenous Papuan people for the present and the
future."
The gathering will address agendas presented by all
participating representatives such as the protection
of fundamental human rights, including the right to
self determination; accountability of security
forces for crimes against the civilian population,
and protection of the environment. The leaders have
noted that they expect congress to reaffirm Papuans'
commitment to pursue respect for their rights
through peaceful means.
The First Papuan Congress occurred on October
16-19,1961. At that congress, Papuan leaders
declared the desire of the Papuan people to become a
free and independent nation. The second congress
convened in May 2000 with the support of then
Indonesian President Abdul Wahid Rahman. Papuan
leaders rejected the 1962 "New York Agreement" which
surrendered control of West Papua to Indonesia. The
congress also rejected the "Act of Free Choice," the
fraudulent process that in 1969 denied Papuans their
right of self-determination. The congress called on
the UN to revoke November 19, 1969 UN Resolution
2504 which formally recognized Indonesia's
annexation of West Papua.
Military and Police Attack Civilian Homes
A combined military and police force on August 31
raided civilian homes near Nafri, outside Abepura,
where an August 1 assault on a largely civilian
convoy killed four and wounded six. The perpetrators
of that attack remain unknown though investigations
by local NGOs point to a provocation by the
Indonesian military's notorious special forces
(Kopassus).
The Nafri attack may have been part of a strategy by
security forces to create instability to undermine
large scale Papuan demonstrations set for August 2
(see
August West Papua Report). According to the
government, the military/police attack on the
civilian homes was in pursuit of Papuans responsible
for the Nafri attack.
A report translated by TAPOL provides detail on
the late August military and police operation. On 31
August , the homes of four Papuans were targeted by
the Army (TNI-AD) and Brimob (special unit of the
Indonesian police) supplemented by the police force
of Papua. Thirteen Papuans were arrested. Local
witnesses report that occupants of the four houses
were in their homes at the time of the operation and
that some of whom were asleep. The security forces
entered the area where the homes were located and
started firing warning shots which traumatized the
local people. Although the thirteen initially evaded
the security forces, all of them, including an eight
year old girl, were arrested. (See also West Papua
Media Alerts'
Special Investigation: State terror campaign around
Jayapura.)
Ten, including the eight year old, were subsequently
released but two were two detained, Ekimar Kogoya,
22 years, and Panius Kogoya, 20 years old. The
security forces that conducted the sweep, which
appear to have included elements of the notorious
Detachment 88 , are formally charging the two
now being held with involvement in the killings in
Nafri August 1 and say that they are suspected of
being members of the TPN/OPM.
Mathius Murib, deputy chair or the National Human
Rights Commission's (Komnas HAM) Papua branch
told media that "proper procedures were not
followed and the people who were detained were
subjected to mal-treatment, and what is even more
disturbing is that a child of 7 or 8 years old was
kidnapped at the same time."
The Nafri incident and subsequent "sweeps" follows
the standard modus operandi of Indonesian security
forces operating in West Papua: An incident,
possibly staged, is used to justify augmenting
security forces in an area which then violate local
citizens rights with sweeps designed to intimidate
the local population. These sweeps usually coincide
with periods of growing popular protest over
political repression and human rights violations.
This modus operandi is part of the Indonesian
security force playbook and was regularly witnessed
at work in Indonesian-occupied East Timor.
Prominent Human Rights Organizations Call for End
to Indonesian Government Resort to Military Measures
in West Papua
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
(FORUM-ASIA), the Commission for the Disappeared and
Victims of Violence (KontraS), the Indonesian Human
Rights Monitor (Imparsial), and the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
urged the Indonesian government to reassess its
reliance on military measures to address growing
dissent in West Papua. The organizations noted in a
September 21 statement that their call came amidst
growing violence in the region.
WPAT notes that security force reliance on
extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrest, torture of
detainees, and repression of peaceful dissent
reflect the reality that Suharto-dictatorship rules
and procedures still apply in West Papua.
The four organizations decried the continuing
buildup of security forces in West Papua, which
Imparsial claimed was in the range of 14,000
personnel, and the continuing impunity accorded
those forces for their violation of constitutionally
protected human rights. They also condemned
Government efforts to preclude monitoring of
conditions in West Papua by journalists,
international human rights monitors and other
legitimate observers.
The four organizations called on the Indonesian
government to:
- Instruct its military to immediately
cease all unlawful surveillance activities in
Papua and revise its current draft intelligence
bill by incorporating recommendations by civil
society and bringing it into line with the
Indonesian Constitution and Criminal Procedure
Code, as well as international human rights law;
- Take steps to reduce the heavy presence
of non-organic military personnel and their
involvement in civil administration in Papua and
seriously implement security sector reform;
- Fully and credibly investigate all past
and new allegations of human rights abuses,
especially those perpetrated by state security
forces, and promptly bring perpetrators to
justice;
- Strengthen civilian oversight and
rigorous parliamentary scrutiny of military
policies, operations and budget; and
- Respect the role of human rights
defenders and ensure unfettered access to Papua
by civil society groups and actors, including
foreign and domestic journalists and independent
human rights monitors.
Freeport Under Growing Labor and Government
Pressure
Workers at the giant Freeport McMoran gold and
copper mine have been
on strike since September 15 demanding higher
wages and protesting numerous violations of their
rights.
The violations they contend the company has
committed include Freeport's hiring of strike
breaker workers (scabs). It remains unclear whether
courts will sanction the strike action as legal.
In addition to facing pressure from its workers,
Freeport is also under government pressure to
renegotiate is contract with the Indonesian
government. All major foreign mining firms in
Indonesia are obliged to renegotiate their contracts
to ensure that they are in accordance with the 2009
Mineral and Coal Law which is intended to increase
government income from the mining sector. The new
law mandates that existing mining contracts be
adjusted to the in accordance with the new law.
Freeport is one of the few foreign mining firms that
has yet to renegotiate its contract.
According to Freeport, under its existing 1991
contract, it has been Indonesia's largest tax payer:
Freeport said in a press statement that in the first
half of this year, the company paid US$1.4 billion
in financial obligations to the Indonesian
government. From 1992 to June 2011, the company
contributed a total of $12.8 billion to the country.
The Jakarta Post writes that the firm's mine covers
213,000 hectares. Royalty payments from the company
accounted for 68 percent of Papua's gross domestic
regional product (GDRP) and 96 percent of Timika's
GDRP in 2010. During that year, the company
contributed $1.9 billion to the state income from
tax and non-tax payments and invested $2.1 billion.
WPAT Comment: While Freeport is a major source of
revenue for the Indonesian government, that revenue
is only a small portion of the vast profits that
Freeport has reaped from its operation which were
launched in 1967, even before Indonesia formally
annexed West Papua in 1969. The extraordinary wealth
accruing to Freeport and the Indonesian government
stands in stark contrast to the grinding poverty and
lack of development that has been the plight of the
Papuan people, particularly those Papuans such as
the Kamoro and Amungme people who have seen their
lands stolen and polluted by the Freeport operation.
The corrupt bargain between Jakarta and Freeport is
a legacy of the 1962 "New York Agreement" which the
US Government orchestrated in a cold war ploy,
absent the consent or even the involvement of the
Papuan people.
UN Secretary General's Candid Comments on West
Papua Partially Pulled Back
UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, at a press
conference in Auckland New Zealand on September 7,
spoke directly and candidly in
response to two questions about West Papua. His
comments appeared to suggest his support for
international calls for the West Papua to be listed
among those territories considered by the UN General
Assembly's Decolonization Committee. He also
appeared to be sympathetic to discussion of West
Papua in the Human Rights Council. Implicit in the
UNSG's comments were both a recognition that there
was merit in a review of West Papua's legal status
and that there was a basis for concern regarding the
human rights situation in West Papua. In particular,
the UNSG responded to what was a legal/political
question about West Papua by introducing in his
response concern over human rights in West Papua.
A portion of the Secretary General's
comments were corrected in New York on September
13 by an unnamed "spokesperson for the
Secretary-General on Papua." The "spokesperson"
contended that the Secretary-General had been
speaking "off-the-cuff." The Secretary-General's
original comments in New Zealand are nonetheless
significant.
The text of the two questions and his responses
follows:
- Question: [unclear] With regards to human
rights - for more than forty two years, there's
a struggle in West Papua as people seeking their
government in the province of West Papua. What
is the United Nations stand on that?
- BKM: This issue should also be discussed at
the Decolonisation Committee of the United
Nations General Assembly And when it comes
again, whether you are an independent state or a
non-self-governing territory or whatever, the
human rights is inalienable and a fundamental
principle of the United Nations.
- We will do all to ensure that people in West
Papua, their human rights will be respected.
- Question: Does a human rights fact-finding
mission has be dispatched to West Papua at some
time?
- BKM: That is the same answer [to a previous
question on Fiji] that should be discussed at
the Human Rights Council amongst the member
states.
- Normally the Secretary General acts on the
basis of a mandate given by inter-governmental
bodies.
The spokesperson's statement was as follows:
- His off-the-cuff response may have led to
the misunderstanding that he was suggesting the
matter of Papua should be placed on the agenda
of the Decolonization Committee. The
Secretary-General wishes to clarify that this
was not his intention.
Interestingly, the spokesman's correction let
stand the UNSG's apparent endorsement of the need
for a discussion of the human rights situation in
West Papua in the Human Rights Council.
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